[SEL] Checking a Magneto

[mullt at att.net]

I am fairly new to old engines and I am starting to look at buying my
first mit & miss engine.

Some of the engines I have looked at look to be okay, they are loose
and turn okay. Many times though, they are not running and have not
run for a while. The owners always say they are okay but there is no
way to tell that for sure.

I understand that replacing a magneto can be expensive, sometimes more
than the engine itself. My question is, how can you check a mag on an
engine that is not running to see if it is okay. Can you hook a test
spark plug up, crank the engine and expect to see a spark? Are there
other ways to quickly check a mag to see if it is okay?

How about engines with ignitors. How can you check them?

Thanks for any input.

Tom in St. Louis